7/22/2019 Teaching Social Sciences to Medical Students :Overcoming the negative perceptions

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Teaching Social Sciences to Medical Students; Overcoming the

negative perceptions

CONTEXT

Social sciences teaching is an important part of the medical school curriculum (1)(2) However, the

teaching of social sciences has been perceived poorly by medical students in different institutionsover many years(3). Previously identified barriers include; poor integration of social sciences into

medical schools, entrenched biomedical perspectives, the language used by social scientists and the

hidden curriculum(4). There has been very little published to see if these barriers can be overcome

CONCLUSIONS

Social sciences can be learnt in a self-directed and integrative way, butdoes need both academic social science and clinical tutor support to

facilitate learning. Addressing the known barriers(6)to poor integration

of social sciences in UK medical schools appears to improve

achievement of learning outcomes.

The terminology used by social scientists is poorly understood by

medical students can be addressed by close working between social

scientists and clinical tutors to demystify concepts. Negative attitudes

to the social sciences amongst both staff and students have to be

actively addressed to ensure student engagement with the subject.

Addressing the hidden curriculum of medical staff discomfort with the

subject matter improves outcomes but cannot be overcome quickly or

easily. Experience with this type of teaching seems to decrease tutor

discomfort with the subject matter being taught. There was agreement

by students, clinical tutors and social scientists that social aspects of

medicine was an important part of learning which was enhanced by

being resourced and integrated into the curriculum.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to identify if the social

aspects of medicine can be brought to life by

applying the self-directed learning of theory

to real patient cases and to identify any

barriers that may have hindered

implementation of the strategy.

This evidence based method of teaching,

used theory workbooks developed byacademic social scientists as well as small

group discussions led by clinical tutors, to

demonstrate the practical application of the

theory in clinical settings.

METHODS

A mixed methods approach was

used with both quantitative and

qualitative data being collected.

Separate focus group

discussions with both the

students and their tutors were

thematically analysed.

A questionnaire was also sent to

all students for quantitative

analysis. The student written

coursework was also assessed

to ascertain the level and depth

of learning.

RESULTS

Most students preferred this type of teaching to lectures and

were able to relate clinical scenarios to the concepts. The

majority reported being able to recognise the importance of

social factors in ill health and the social effects of illness after

this teaching. Students valued the clinical perspective and

thought this added to their learning.

Students developed a preferential hierarchy of knowledge

presented by clinicians over knowledge presented by social

scientists(5). The language and theoretical frameworks used by

social scientists continued to be perceived as a barrier by many

students. Students were able to demonstrate achievement of

the learning outcomes in their reflective writing.

Tutors initially felt under qualified to teach the social sciences

and appreciated the input of subject experts. Some tutors

carried forward negative perceptions of their own experiences

of social science teaching and allowed this to influence the way

they delivered the teaching. The attitude of the individual

teachers towards the social sciences correlated well with the

student appreciation of the learning outcomes. Some tutors

with previously negative attitudes to the subject were able toalter their perspective and became much more positive.

Thetutorials were really useful in bringing the workbooks tolife: relating the abstract concepts to real patients helped meremember the principles better

Year 3 medical student

The workbooks gave us time to digest the information and thetutorials helped consolidate that learning and we were able to clarifyanything that wasn't understood

Year 3 medical student

Dr Alan Stone, Dr Sara MacBride-Stewart, Prof Kamila HawthorneInstitute of Medical Education, Cardiff University School of Medicine and School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

Acknowledgements; Rachel Underhill, 4thyear medical student for the Wordle picture

References

1. Russell A, van Teijlingen E, Lambert H, Stacy R. Social and behavioural science education in UK

medical schools: current practice and future directions. Med Educ. 2004; 38:409417.

2. Tomorrows Doctors 2009 General Medical Councilhttp://www.gmc-

uk.org/TomorrowsDoctors_2009.pdf_39260971.pdf(Accessed 23.1.14)

3. Litva A, Peters S. Exploring barriers to teaching behavioural and social sciences in medical

education. Medical Education 2008; Mar;42(3):309-14.

4. Bundy C, Cordingley L, Peters S, Rock J, Hart J and Hodges L A core curriculum for psychology in

undergraduate medical education;A report from the Behavioural and Social Sciences Teaching in

medicine (BeSST) Psychology Steering Group. Higher Education Academy Psychology Network

Report2010www.medev.ac.uk/static/uploads/resources/BeSST_report_LowRes.pdf(Accessed

23.12.13)

5. (MacBride-Stewart, Hawthorne & Stone, in progress).

6. Benbassat J, Baumal R, Borkan J, Ber R, 2003 Overcoming Barriers to Teaching the Behavioral and

Social Sciences to Medical Students.Academic Medicine78(4), April, p 372380

If youre in a lecture youre kind of being told som eonesopinion on sociology whereas in the small GP groups youcan listen to everyone s opinions kind of let them affectyour own opinion and reflect on how th ey re different toyours and how some are sim ilar to yours Year 3 Medical Student

ou can actually apply what you ve been taught to the real world insteadof being in a hypothetical situation in a nice cosy warm lecture theatreYear 3 medical student

was coming from the anti-camp with regard to my previous experience of sociology .. werealmost a year into it and my approach has changed and thatsbecause I dontfeel threatened by itbecause ve been able to see the positive bits of making it clinically relevant ClinicalTutor

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